Welcome back to the LiverKick.com rankings. These rankings are an attempt to break down the top 10 fighters in three different weight classes - Heavyweight, for fighters above the 85kg limit, Middleweight, for fighters at the 70-72.5kg limit, and Light Heavyweight, for fighters at the 77-84kg limit. Our rankings are based on in-ring accomplishments and recent wins and loses. We hope they reflect where these fighters currently stand, although we recognize that all rankings are inherently subjective. Rankings are compiled by Rian Scalia and Dave Walsh.

January 2012

Middleweight is one of the most active divisions in the world of Kickboxing, always churning out some of the best fights and being extremely competitive. For how competitive the division is, there are two men who have been reigning at the top for quite a while, and they are the #1 and #2 in the division, Giorgio Petrosyan and Buakaw Por. Pramuk, respectively. Petrosyan, whose only crutch seems to be his brittle hands has not relented at all in 2011. There was one close call for him at It's Showtime where certain judges decided to give rounds to Zeben Diaz, but he has never looked anything but untouchable. Buakaw, on the other hand has blew through Thai Fight's 70kg division this year.

Since our last round of updates there have been little in the way of movement in the top 6. Robin Van Roosmalen, Artur Kyshenko, Andy Souwer and Mootje Khamal hold strong in their respective positions as well. Khamal has been competing in the MPL under the Welterweight division (66.7kg) with impressive wins over Liam Harrison and Michael Dicks, but not within the 70kg division.

The most movement comes at the hands of Jury Bessmertny, the man who won the Fight Code Dragons Tournament, coming seemingly out of nowhere by defeating Armen Petrosyan twice to prove his mettle. His biggest win was over the former #7, Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee, a huge win that has re-shaped the second half of the division. Jury takes Sudsakorn's place at #7, bumping Suds down to #8. Armen Petrosyan's two losses bump him off of the top ten for now, with Yuji Nashiro moving down to #9 and HINATA holding strong at #10.